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Lots of ‘blame to share’ for Jays abysmal year: GM

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons talks with home plate umpire Bob Davidson during fifth inning AL action against the New York Yankees in Toronto on Tuesday August 27, 2013.Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

TORONTO — Before the game, Alex Anthopoulos said the embattled John Gibbons would remain his manager in 2014.

The Toronto Blue Jays general manager also held everyone in his organization — including himself — accountable for the disastrous season of 2013.

Then, as if anyone needed a reminder, the Blue Jays spent the evening hours conjuring the demons that have symbolized their season.

Starting pitcher J.A. Happ dug a 4-0 hole before his offence came to bat and failed to survive the fifth inning. The hitters did not hit, with the notable exceptions of three recent call-ups from Buffalo. Catcher J.P. Arencibia threw a ball into centre field. Moises Sierra got a bad break off second, but third-base coach Luis Rivera sent him home anyway, to a bad end. Toronto was down 5-0 at the time.

The Jays lost 7-1 to the New York Yankees, who have beaten them in 13 times in 15 tries this season. For a Toronto fan, it was ugly and tedious. More than 34,000 showed up to watch, and many thought of something better to do by the fifth inning.

In his pre-game scrum, Anthopoulos said Gibbons cannot be blamed for a wretched season marked by poor starting pitching, a middling offence and patchy defence. He was unequivocal that Gibbons would get another chance next year.

“When we’re playing the way we have, I just don’t think it falls on one person; it’s collectively,” Anthopoulos said. “There’s blame to share — that’s probably the best way to put it.”

Happ’s early implosion — thanks largely to Alfonso Soriano’s three-run homer — and his relatively short start extended a pattern “that has happened way too many times this year,” Gibbons said.

Meanwhile, 41-year-old Andy Pettitte won his 10th game with seven shutout innings for the Yankees.

“It’s tough to get behind against a pitcher like that and a team like that. He did his job and I didn’t do mine,” Happ said.

Happ said he is pleased to hear that Gibbons will be back, and believes his teammates feel the same way.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “As far as I know, everybody in here is happy about that. I know I am. It’s good to know, obviously, that the year we’re having is not his fault. You understand sometimes that changes are made, but I think we’re all glad that’s not one of them.”

Gibbons was glad to know his job is safe, but he was hardly in the mood to gloat after another embarrassing loss.

“I’m not going to give that any thought,” Gibbons said, referring to his boss’s promise to bring him back in 2014. “I can’t worry about that. You go out there each day, try to win a game, play good baseball. It’s nice to hear, but it’s not going to change my approach any.”

Despite all the losing, Anthopoulos denied that the clubhouse is contaminated by a losing culture. But obviously, he said, changes will come after what he suggested would be an all-encompassing off-season review that will include the coaching staff, players, trainers and a look at the almost unfathomable injury plague that has persisted all season.

His comments came on a day when Gibbons reiterated that starter Josh Johnson’s forearm injury requires two more weeks of rest before he picks up a ball, meaning his season is likely finished.

That news, plus Happ’s meltdown, once again underscored the team’s biggest problem: a rotation with baseball’s second-worst ERA — 5.03 entering the game.

“We’ve had three-fifths of our rotation in flux, whether it’s through injury or performance,” Anthopoulos said. “We’ve only had two mainstays in the rotation the entire year. That’s not an excuse; that’s just a fact. That comes to my chair, it comes down to the players, the staff, the training staff — we’re all accountable, to an extent, why things have gone the way they have. But to sit there and say it’s one person, that doesn’t make any sense. I think it’s an easy out, to be honest with you.”

He refused to speculate on the changes, although a starting pitcher or two would be a no-brainer.

“I think we all can get better, myself included,” he said. “When we are where we are in the standings and the results are what they are, there’s clearly a lot of room for improvement, and clearly we’re going to need to have some type of change. I’m not prepared to say what those are.”